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Payne: How auto safety systems saved Tiger Woods
Posted by Talbot Payne on March 3, 2021
As the world awaits an official Los Angeles County accident report on what caused Tiger Woods’ early morning crash Feb. 23, there is much that is unknown about the single-vehicle incident. Uncertainty abounds as to how fast the vehicle was traveling, whether Woods might have been asleep or distracted, if something malfunctioned in the vehicle, even why the golf icon wasn’t being chauffeured.
But auto safety experts say one thing is certain: Modern safety systems in Woods’ 2021 Genesis GV80 SUV saved the superstar golfer from much more serious injury.
Woods’ horrific rollover apparently resulted in isolated right leg and ankle injuries as safety features — and the crucial fact that Tiger was wearing a seatbelt — worked together to form a cocoon around the 45-year-old athlete. Developed over decades to increasing crash standards, the systems on board the Genesis help isolate passengers like Woods to prevent head and torso injuries.
“It really is a sign of how well these vehicles are built nowadays and the combination of all these safety features,” said David Harkey, president of The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which tests vehicles. “None of us want to be in that kind of violent collision. But your odds of surviving something like that now are much greater than they were a decade ago.”
Experts say vehicles are designed to create a sort of double-layer cocoon around occupants. The first layer is enabled by crush zones in the chassis itself in order to prevent the engine, wheels, and other external objects from intruding into the cabin on impact.
The second cocoon layer is created immediately around the driver using so-called passive safety systems like seatbelts and airbags that prevent occupants from flailing about the cabin.
“We call it the egg philosophy. The vehicle cage is structured like an egg shell with front and back crumple zones to keep the cabin intact,” said Bryan Johnson, a spokesman for Auburn Hills-based Joyson Safety Systems that outfits about one-third of manufacturers (though not Korea-assembled Genesis) with passive safety components.
“Can you keep the compartment intact during a crash and maintain a survivable state? That’s the whole key in a collision, and (the GV80) did that with respect to the upper body,” said Harkey, pointing to the roof, its integrity intact despite the apparent rollover.
IIHS and Joyson engineers have followed the Woods’ incident closely. “The underlying structure in Tiger’s crash did what is was supposed to do,” said Johnson. “The systems worked and kept Tiger seated and in an upright and protected position.”
Los Angeles County firefighters extracted Woods from the GV80 by peeling back the front windshield glass. The tempered glass itself is a safety marvel as it is designed not to shatter in violent accidents like Woods endured. Harkey noted the intact cabin side windows and panoramic glass sunroof.
Woods injuries are reportedly limited to his right leg, ankle, and foot (shattered tibia and fibula with foot bones requiring screws and pins) likely caused by planting his right leg on the brake pedal as the vehicle went out of control.
“Your first instincts are to brake,” said Harkey. “That’s where we see injuries (in accidents like this) — to the ankles in the lower leg. That’s exactly what Tiger experienced.”
Harkey said Woods’ extended leg was vulnerable since it was up against the engine firewall where multiple parts — engine, wheels, suspension — are being smashed into the cabin structure.
By coincidence, IIHS is currently putting the $49,925 Genesis GV80 — new this model year — through its rigorous safety tests. Vehicles must meet federal safety standards to sell in the United States, but manufacturers frequently benchmark to IIHS’ higher standards which earns them the Virginia-based organization’s Top Safety Pick or Top Safety Pick Plus ratings.
Hyundai Motor Group, which includes the Genesis luxury brand, was awarded more Top Safety Picks than any other manufacturer last year.
Woods had just played the Genesis Invitational and was driving a GV80 courtesy vehicle at the time of his crash. The automaker has kept a low profile, lamenting Woods misfortune and “wishing him a full and speedy recovery.”
In a statement, Hyundai’s luxury maker highlighted several advance safety features in its GV80. Woods was cushioned by a center-side airbag that deployed between the front seats helping keep Woods in place (and from knocking heads with a right-seat passenger had their been one).
Woods was surrounded by airbags including a steering wheel airbag to the chest, side curtain airbags to keep his head from striking the door window, and a lower door airbag to bolster his hips.
“The biggest recent evolution in vehicle safety is the integration of sensors in vehicles,” said Joyson’s Johnson.
Today’s safety systems are designed to work with instant speed and precision. Take the simple seatbelt which experts agree was the foundation of keeping Woods alive in a median-hopping accident at perhaps 50 mph.
“You now have pretensioners in a seatbelt that — right before a collision — will respond and retract. So it literally pulls your body back into an upright position,” said IIHS’s Harkey, describing a sequence that happens in milliseconds. “Then you have load limiters which allow the belt — once the crash occurs — to loosen slightly. That prevents injuries that sometimes occur because (a tight belt) may actually do a bit of upper body damage.”
Woods was alone, but more air bags would have deployed should other occupants have been present.
American consumers have gone whole hog for SUVs — over 70% of non-pickup truck new vehicle sales — which are heavier and carry a higher center of gravity than sedans, potentially making vehicles like the 5,000-pound GV80 less controllable compared to, say, its 4,100-pound G80 sedan sibling.
Regarding passenger protection, however, Johnson did not see that as an issue. A wild card, however, is the SUV’s hatchback which, unlike a sedan’s isolated boot, opens the vehicle cargo area to the passenger compartment — and potential flying objects like golf clubs or luggage.
In Woods’ case, his clubs and luggage stayed intact. Harkey said the IIHS test includes passenger dummies, but not cargo.
Overall, vehicle structural engineering have made big strides in recent years. “The GV80 is on an all-new platform — with strong focus on safety — including passenger compartment protection/reinforcement areas,” said Genesis. “This includes the use of advanced high strength steel for rigidity and safety.”
In 1995, IIHS began so-called moderate overlap tests in which 40% of the front end took the brunt of a head-on collision — the deadliest of crashes. In the last decade, IIHS has added small overlap tests aimed at strengthening front corner crush zones in which 25% of the driver/passenger sides bear the impact.
In addition to these overlap tests, IIHS tests for side, roof strength, and head-and seat restraints.
“It was clear that at, some point in the collision, (the GV80) landed on its front and there was severe intrusion into (the engine compartment),” said Harkey. “But the structure absorbed a lot of that energy.”
Joyson’s Johnson said that active safety features like anti-lock brakes and forward collision avoidance systems — both of which were on the GV80 — have also made vehicles safer, though they likely did not factor in the LA crash. Woods was saved by good ol’ passive safety tech.
Johnson expects, however, that future active safety advances — accelerated by the promise of driverless vehicles — could prevent crashes.
‘We are currently seeing an evolution of occupant monitoring in systems like GM’s Super Cruise (driver-assist),” he said. “So if a driver is distracted, then a predictive system might be able to give them a warning in time.”